Minutes after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee stunned the party cadre by anouncing that he would be staying off power politics, party President L K Advani said Vajpayee had taken the decision this morning.

"I came to know of his decision only in the morning", Advani told reporters in Mumbai on Thursday. Asked if Vajpayee had taken the decision on the spur of the moment or whether it had been in the pipeline for sometime now, Advani declined to comment.

When pointed out that Vajpayee, in his speech at the party rally in Mumbai tonight had spoken of his Advani's coronation, the BJP chief merely smiled. Vajpayee is not keeping good health and he had become very emotional after hearing the news of the demise of his old associate Manikchand Vajpayee, founder of "Swadesh" daily, Advani said.